Riverside plans to ramp up science curriculum

NORTH SEWICKLEY TWP. - With Keystone Exams looming in 2015, the Riverside School District is ramping up its science curriculum in the high school.

Bret Trotta, assistant superintendent of schools, told the school board at its meeting Monday that biology courses with laboratories will be offered during the next school year, which will be required by 2015. At present, only honors biology classes are offered with labs.

The district will also be buying new textbooks for biology as well as chemistry, Trotta said. The biology books will cost about $11,000 while chemistry books will cost about $6,700, which was approved by the board.

Trotta said the district is also increasing technology in classrooms in kindergarten through sixth grade to help bolster the mathematics curriculum.

He proposed using an allocation of between $50,000 and $60,000 that was set aside for books on technology instead, such as smart boards and LCD projectors. The cost to equip 23 classrooms in kindergarten through sixth grade would be about $2,000 each, for a total of $46,000.

Teachers will build their own math curriculum using the technology and will structure the curriculum to meet the needs of the pupils, Trotta said.

In other news, the board unanimously adopted a $21 million budget for 2011-12 without a property tax increase during Monday's meeting.

The spending measure maintains a tax rate of 60.5 mills and uses $654,479 from its fund balance to balance the budget.

Also, school lunch prices will go up in the Riverside district for the next school year. Lunches for kindergarten, first and second grade will increase 15 cents, from $2.10 to $2.25, while lunches for fourth- through 12th-graders will also go up by 15 cents, from $2.35 to $2.50. There will be no change in price for breakfast or milk.

In other action, the Riverside School Board approved a one-year agreement with Sodexo to continue managing the district's food services.

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In personnel matters Monday, the Riverside board:

lApproved a leave of absence under the Family Medical Leave Act to Lisa Meyers, a fifth-grade teacher.

{div}lHired Brenden Wolfe as a temporary summer custodian.{/div} Other announcements:

lLouis J. DeCooman will retire as a full-time custodian in the middle school effective Aug. 31.

lSylvia Gaydosz will be retiring as the full-time elementary office head secretary effective Aug. 3.

School superintendent David Anney said the district will be evaluating the custodian position and is looking to reduce the three-person elementary secretarial staff by the equivalent of one-and-a-third.

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